The quint owes its evolution as a piece of fire apparatus to a lineage that began almost a century ago. The “triple-combination” engine — a vehicle with a pump, hose bed and a water tank — first appeared on the scene around 1910. The “city service” or quad, which added a full complement of ground ladders, soon followed, with the quint and its 55- to 100-foot aerial appearing just prior to World War II.
The modern quint, which can have a price tag of well over $750,000, has been described by some as a fire truck designed by a city manager who thought four firefighters could do all the work of both an engine and ladder crew from a single apparatus. Twenty years ago, the “Total Quint Concept” was the buzz of the American fire service. The idea of replacing all engines and ladder companies with quints was developed first in Richmond, Va., with some success, but it was adopted most notably by the St. Louis Fire Department about 15 years ago. St. Louis developed extensive SOPs that discussed how and when each quint would act as either an engine or a ladder on the fireground.
The problem today is that in many small to medium departments, the quint may be the only initial responding unit. Determining which role it will play has major consequences to the incident’s outcome. I recently watched as a quint was first-in to a fire in a multifamily apartment building but failed to position itself to the best advantage for either deploying hose lines or using its aerial. Due to the narrow street access, the quint’s placement doomed the subsequent arriving apparatus to less than ideal positions for conducing fire operations.
Because of the potential confusion of roles on the fire scene, several departments are moving away from quints and back to dedicated engine and ladder companies, where the roles of the fire crews are clearly defined. How do you feel?
If you use a quint as your first-out or only apparatus, how do you govern its use and train your company officers and crews to properly select and perform one role or the other? How does that role determination affect your initial and subsequent apparatus placement?
Or do you feel its time to dedicate crews to either engine or ladder company operations, avoiding the role confusion and improving apparatus placement?
June 15th, 2007 @ 12:41 pm
I believe that the quint has a vital role in smaller departments. However, it should not the primary responding engine. As you know, manpower is the number-one reason why many departments cannont staff a ladder truck , therefore the quint concept must be utilized.
June 15th, 2007 @ 1:35 pm
First, I am from a rural fire department, so my comments only pertain to my experience in such a department. Positioning a piece of apparatus in front of the building for the best use is up to the training in that department. My department has a quint and a 100-foot tower. We train to always leave room in front of the fire building for either ladder if it can be utilized. If our responsibility is to provide rescue and ventilation, then using a quint as first-in would provide those services first, and if we can’t utilize the ladder ops, the equipment and pump are there for fire suppresion — the best of both worlds. Thanks for the opportunity to comment.
June 15th, 2007 @ 5:52 pm
As with time come new technologies to allow us to perform the job faster, safer and easier. In my 20+ years I have only seen equipment get better but training get worse at times. In order to use the equipment to the utmost of its abilities, you must train on it — and I don’t mean 30 minutes a year. The more you train the better you become. As for replacing quints, my answer is NO, just train those who, due to budget, manpower or department size must rely on a quint to be a first out and in unit to be able to use it to the utmost of its ability.
June 18th, 2007 @ 8:14 am
Being from a volunteer department where our station has both a quint and a engine, I must say my experiences with our quint has been nothing but positive. Our SOG had the quint rolling out first on anything involving a structure and the engine rolling out right behind. Our full staffing on the quint is six (five firefighters, one officer). The only problem with the quint was getting the other two companies in our town to make space in front of the fire building for the quint, but they got used to the idea and it has not been a problem. When staffing allows we can split the crew, with the officer and two firefighters going to the fire and two firefighters going to the roof or search.
June 25th, 2007 @ 9:21 am
There are locations and situations across this country that can be well-served by quints, but as others have said, training is the key not only for the quint crews but for all the other responding crews. Having served in and commanded engine companies, truck companies and quint companies, I firmly believe the best service is delivered by dedicated engine or truck companies. This is especially difficult when many smaller departments try to be all things to all people, and each department duplicates all the services of its neighbors. Where possible in regional locations where there are many small jurisdictions, the citizens would be well-served by having each departement provide one component of the service delivery at a high level or compentency and reliability, rather than many services at minimally acceptable levels.